A two-month trip requires more than simply getting my body ready. I’m also wrapping “my head around” all the details of this trip. At times, the details can be overwhelming and exhausting.

Some necessary details are common to anybody traveling to the UK, making sure that the new required Travel Authorization is submitted and approved.

Others details are more specific to this trip. Although the route is pre-set, “always keep the water on my right”, I get to decide when and where I stop. So, I now have plans for the daily miles I’ll walk and my lodging for each night. While I can be spontaneous in many ways, I’m not spontaneous when it comes to risking a good nights sleep! With neither monasteries nor hostels, my lodging expenses are more than on the continent. Oh well.

Another ”first” for me is that I’ve decided to use a luggage transport service. With a left elbow and a right shoulder sometimes giving me fits, I decided that I no longer should be carrying a 20-22 pound backpack. Despite the frugal person that I can be (or is it cheap), I probably should have made this decision a year ago. Again, oh well.

Another ”first” is that Mary and three cousins (heh Melinda, Judi and Susan! and their husbands) are joining me when I finish. In June, we’ll visit ancestral villages (and a bit more of England), All of us have contributed to envision and plan a trip for eight folks. Probably at times, each of us feels like Rick Steves. Which site should we visit? Which tour guide should we use? Which restaurants and hotels should we use. All our emails and group calls hopefully will turn out great!

Preparing. It can take all a person’s mental energy. It is necessary; it can be fun. However, there is a point when I need to ease away from all those plans, all those thoughts. I don’t want all those plans to be a burdensome weight.

So, I started sensing a bit of anticipation this week. Maybe it is our choir singing Mozart’s Requiem; maybe it is the Easter Service; maybe it is the death of Pope Francis and the end of his journey. I do know that I’m finally getting a sense of anticipating, of looking forward. My journey, my South West Coast Path hike, is about to begin. Ready or not!